BACOLOD CITY — Two of the three electric cooperatives in Negros Occidental have increased their power rates for the month of August due to rate recovery and upward adjustments in various charges.
The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO), which covers Bacolod and its three neighboring cities and two towns, has announced an increase of PHP0.18 to PHP0.20 per kilowatt hour (kWh), depending on the type of consumer.
This month, the power rate for “affected consumers,” or those covered by the recovery of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), is PHP12.1384 per kWh, higher by PHP0.2075 than July’s rate of P11.9309. These consumers are also affected by the adjustments made by Kepco Salcon Power Corporation (KSPC) and Energreen Development Corporation.
“Unaffected consumers,” or those not using electricity within the said period, but still covered by adjustments for KSPC and Energreen Development Corporation, will pay an increase of PHP0.1812 per kWh — to PHP11.8117 this month from last month’s rate of PHP11.6305.
Leomel Tambanillo, manager of CENECO Corporate Planning Division, said they have implemented adjustments due to the PHP14.5-million recovery of PSALM’s generation rate adjustment mechanism and incremental currency exchange rate.
He added that CENECO also implemented a fixed rate of PHP0.0817 per kWh as adjustment for KSPC while movements in various charges like generation and transmission also pushed the power rate up.
The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) increased its August power rate by PHP0.0044 per kWh — from PHP11.2485 in July to PHP11.2529 this month.
NOCECO general manager Jon Discaya said the higher electricity rate this month can be attributed to increases in transmission and systems loss charges, subsidy rates and value-added tax (VAT) on transmission.
Transmission charge hiked by PHP0.0012 per kWh while systems loss charges, subsidy rates and VAT increased by PHP0.0071 per kWh, PHP0.0194 per kWh, and PHP0.0096 per kWh, respectively.
On the other hand, the Northern Negros Electric Cooperative (NONECO) reported a decrease of PHP0.1687 per kWh in its power rate for August due to a drop of PHP0.1984 per kWh in the generation charge.
However, increases of PHP0.0270 and PHP0.0027 for transmission and other charges, respectively, were also noted by NONECO. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
